I had one for a while but decided to sell it. Nothing beats doing it the old fashion way.

The mast stepper took a while to set up and I didn't feel comfortable with raising it. It would flop around if I didn't have the trap wires set right.

Remember, I'm a 22 year old kid so raising the mast is no big deal to me, but I think that if you are able to do it the regular way you might as well. It just over complicates something that shouldn't be that difficult.

Yepo.... Bungees on both stays/trap wires pulling forward to the corner castings stabilize the mast while raising and also keep anything from getting caught. makes the process a breeze. Also point the boat down hill if you can - extra easy.Tim

I have been raising my mast solo for 27 years. I bought the boat new in '85 and I am 78 years old. There have been several threads on raising the mast solo on this forum so I won't go into details. The biggest problem is getting the mast link to toggle as you raise the mast. The special link from Murrays solved that problem for me. I just don't have the upper body strength I used to have, to bounce the mast as needed to toggle the link. Except for a tripod to hold up one end of the mast and about 8' of line to lengthen the jib halyard, I don't use anything extra.